Scheduling Mother Goose Time

Mother Goose Time makes scheduling preschool easy.  Each monthly box contains 4 lesson plan books, one for each week of the month.  You just open the lesson plan and the daily bag to go with it.  The daily lesson plan has ideas for circle time, a craft, suggested book to read, games, investigation stations, literacy and math work, etc.  You just follow the suggested activities for the day.

We always start  the day with free play while waiting for everyone to arrive.  Then we begin with circle time.  The kids help figure out the weather, day of the week, and date.  We also work on counting and figuring out the calendar pattern.  The kids stand to say the pledge of allegiance and then we have a time where every child gets a chance to share a short comment or story with the class.  After that I read a related book for the days topic.  We will also discuss either letters, numbers, shapes or colors and sometimes play games to go with it.

 After circle time we move onto the days craft.  I like to do these early in case it's something that needs time to dry before going home.  This past week the kids designed their own puzzles and made get well cards.  After everyone is done we have a snack.

After snack we will do games or activities like patterning, building with shapes, playing would you rather, etc.

I like to work with the kids one on one in their my little journals.  While I am working with one child the others are doing small group work with things like puzzles, books, letter books, sand table and blocks.  

Once we are done with the mornings lesson we head outside to play.  Once it gets colder the kids get to go sledding and play in the snow.  On days where it is rainy or way too cold they get free play inside or else we go into an empty room next door where we can build obstacle courses and play games that require lots of space to run.

A Day of Mother Goose Time

 Mother Goose Time makes it easy to just open and go.  Very little prep work is required.  We don't always start at the same time, but we have a set routine we follow.  It makes it easy to transition from one task to the next when Elli knows exactly what to expect.  We always start with circle time.  This is when we look at the daily topic poster and discuss what we're learning.  We also sing songs and go over the weather and calendar.  

Sometimes there are short games to play during circle time, such as guessing what sounds animals make when they're in danger.  

I also use the daily coloring pages from member resources during circle time.

Once that's all done we start on the days lesson.

 There are usually a few games for the kids to play.  Today Elli worked on recognizing the letters and their sounds for Y, G and Q.  Games make literacy and math work more fun. 

Each day usually has either a make and play craft or an invitation to create.  Today Elli made a duck call.

Every day has a suggested book that ties in with the theme.  When we don't have the book and can't find it at the library I'll either find a different related book or see if I can find it being read on youtube.  

Elli loved playing Be Careful Bunny, and we played it multiple times.

Closing time is when we complete the my little journals and talk about what we learned.  It's also when we do the STEAM station ideas.  Today Elli played different instruments and listened to the sounds they make.  She really likes using the ukulele.  

We also receive add ons from Mother Goose Time that I incorporate into our day.  We use the dance n' beats at different times.  Sometimes Elli dances after breakfast while I clean up around the house, other times we do it for our closing time, and sometime she waits for her sister to get home from school so they can dance together.  Dance n' Beats comes with a DVD of choreographed dances for the songs on the monthly CD.  It also has a book with extra ideas.  Dancing is a great way to get the kids up and moving, all while having fun.  It helps increase their balance and coordination and enhance their gross motor skills. 

A Day With Mother Goose Time: Routines

 Mother Goose Time makes it so easy to stay organized.  Every month they send a planning journal that has the whole month mapped out. 

Plus there is a more detailed page that breaks your whole day down, as well as blank pages to write your own ideas and plans.

We don't follow a set schedule in our house, but we do have a routine.  We usually start our Mother Goose Time lesson for the day between 9-10am.  On Tuesdays Addie gets home from school early, so we wait for her since she loves joining Elli with the lessons. Sometimes I also save certain activities that I know Addie will love, or that I know will work better with 2 kids until when she gets home. Regardless of  the time we start, we always do circle time first.  We pick the day of the month and the weather.  We also look at the topic of the day and discuss what we know about it. There is also always a concept intro idea that covers the different letters/numbers/shape/color of the month.  On this particular day the heart was introduced, so Elli practiced tracing hearts in a try of oats.  We also sing an opening song, or sometimes a rhyme, before starting the lesson.

If there is any project that requires painting, we do that first so it has time to dry.  Usually, after everything else is finished except closing time, we return to the painted projects and finish them up.  On day one for February the topic was grains.  Elli finger painted her sandwich pieces and once they dried she glued oats on them.  She didn't want to add any cheese, lettuce, etc. 

 Each day with Mother Goose Time includes 4 activities, which have multiple parts.  We started with discuss:  What letter do you have in your name?  Then we moved on to explore: Set out corn kernels (we used oats) and paper.  Observe as children make corn kernel designs on paper.  How else do children investigate and play with corn?  We finished up with play:  Give each child a name tag and help him write his name.  Encourage each child to use the corn kernels to make the first letter in his name.  What other letters can he make with corn?  There is also an assess and reflect section that allows teachers to take note of a child's progress or what they may need extra help with.

One of the reasons we have a routine and not a schedule, is because it allows Elli time to really get into the activities she likes.  She also can take as long as she wants on the art projects.  She knows the order we do things in, but is free to take as long as she wants to finish.

Elli had so much fun with the grain discovery activity.  She measured and poured different grains and mixed them together.  She also practiced holding rice in her hand and squeezing it.  She especially enjoyed eating the raw noddles.  

We used the same 3 types of grains to weigh and see which one was the heaviest.  Elli helped make a balancing scale and I showed her how to work it.   We've left this up and it has been used throughout the week to weigh other items against one another.  Addie has also been using it.

 After all the activities are done we do closing time and this is also when Elli does the dance n' beats DVD.

After closing time we read some related books, which I realize is out of order, but it's what works for us.

We waited for Addie to get home to make bread, because I knew she'd want to help.  The girls loved measuring the ingredients and kneading the dough for me.  They also loved the french bread and ate it for an after dinner snack.  They thought this was especially great since they don't normally get food after dinner, but it took a longtime to make so it wasn't done in time for dinner.